Outside the gate, local officials from Yangzhou were waiting.
Standing at the front are Huang Jiarui, the governor of Nanzhi Province, and Ma Mingluo, the prefect of Yangzhou. Behind them are the assistant officials and staff of their respective government offices.
Ma Mingluan glanced behind him to make sure that no one could hear the conversation between the two.
Poop asked in a low voice: "Master Futai, did you tell the truth about the grain supply to Chen Sheng?"
"Ma Mingluan, don't ask for trouble." Huang Jiarui warned in a low voice, "You and I finally got out of this matter, so why bother getting involved again?"
"Besides, this matter involves the palace."
"Is it something you and I can ask?"
After a pause, Huang Jiarui continued: "If you still want to stay as the governor of Yangzhou and don't want to be sent to Yunnan or Guizhou by those people, you'd better be honest."
Ma Mingluan sighed, looking lonely.
"Lord Ma, don't be discouraged." Huang Jiarui said, "There is still hope for the Ming Dynasty. Not long ago, didn't the Holy Lord personally lead the ten-town frontier army to a great victory in Xia Town? With the Holy Lord in power, there is hope for the Ming Dynasty to be revived, hopefully!"
"Even if there is a sage in the court, it is difficult for a clever woman to make a meal without rice." Ma Mingluan sighed.
"Rectifying officialdom cannot be effective overnight. It requires continuous efforts and long-term results." Huang Jiarui said, "The Holy One must have made a holy judgment in his heart. You and I only need to do our jobs well."
"But the problem is that I can't do my job well."
Ma Mingluan spread his hands and said: "Master Futai, you have also seen that in the early years of Chongzhen, all industries in Yangzhou were prosperous, but what has been the situation in recent years? It is not an exaggeration to say that all industries are in depression."
"It's here again, it's here again, why can't I explain it to you?" Huang Jiarui felt a big headache.
"I don't care, I'm going to risk it anyway this time." Ma Mingluan gritted his teeth and said, "I don't have to give up this black gauze hat on my head, but I have to squeeze out the abscess in Yangzhou! If we don't send these plague gods away, Yangzhou will be completely destroyed.
It’s over!”
While he was talking, a eunuch came out of the cabin to reply.
"Long live the Lord said, after walking all night, I was tired and disappeared."
Huang Jiarui breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this and asked Ma Mingluan: "Master Ma, are you still waiting?"
"Wait!" Ma Mingluan gritted his teeth and said, "If the Holy One doesn't summon me, I will keep waiting."
Huang Jiarui frowned, but he didn't dare to leave alone, so he had to continue waiting with Ma Mingluan.
We waited until noon, and then we saw people from Qingyu Hall bringing tables of fine banquets to the hall, and even two incense carts came, and two famous prostitutes got out of the carts.
They are really famous prostitutes, one is Li Shiniang and the other is Zheng Tuoniang.
They are all famous prostitutes from Yangzhou, and they all have to start at one hundred taels for entertainment.
Staying overnight? Staying overnight depends on their mood. If they are in a bad mood, it will cost thousands of taels.
When the two famous prostitutes saw Huang Jiarui and Ma Mingluan, they both bowed to each other.
Huang Jiarui smiled and bowed his head in return. The official atmosphere in Jiangnan was still very open. No matter officials or gentry, they were not ashamed to sing poetry and wine with famous prostitutes, but were proud of it.
Ma Mingluan paid no attention to it, and his face was completely black.
Seeing two courtesans holding oil-paper umbrellas walking into the inner sanctum, the eunuchs and barbarians guarding the gate didn't even ask a question. However, they wanted to enter to see the saint but were unable to get in. The anger in Ma Mingluan's heart finally broke out.
"Ah!" Ma Mingluan said angrily, "I take back what I just said, what a holy king is, he is simply a fool! A fool!"
"Shut up!" Huang Jiarui turned pale with fright, and shouted in a low voice, "Ma Mingluan, you can seek death yourself, but please don't implicate me and colleagues in Yangzhou officialdom!"
"I want to say something, but I want to scold you!" Ma Mingluan really went all out and said loudly, "You are a fool! Chongzhen, you are a fool! How long have you been, and you still want to have sex?"
"There is no hope, there is no hope for Ming Dynasty!"
"The country will be destroyed and its species will be destroyed today. The country and its species will be destroyed today!"
Ma Mingluan burst into tears at the end and exchanged tears.
Huang Jiarui was almost scared to death and wanted to cover Ma Mingluo's mouth regardless of his image.
As a result, he was bitten by Ma Mingluan, and Huang Jiarui screamed in pain.
However, Ma Mingluan took off the black gauze hat on his head, took off his official robe, folded them up, carefully placed them in front of the gate, and then prepared to turn around and leave. There was no way he could be the prefect.
It's okay to be caught between the Donglin Party and the Eunuchs and suffer from the splint, but the emperor is like this again.
At this moment, Ma Mingluan was really heartbroken and felt that Daming was hopeless.
"Stop!" A young warrior wearing mountain armor chased him out of the gate of the camp.
Hu Guozhu glanced back and forth at Huang Jiarui, Ma Mingluan and other officials with a murderous look on his face.
"Who was insulting the Holy One just now? And who was talking nonsense?" Hu Guozhu said, "Stand up yourself!"
"It's me." Ma Mingluan took a step forward and said proudly, "I was the one who scolded Chongzhen just now. He is a coward, a coward! I will still scold him like this when I get in front of him!"
"Seeking death!" Hu Guozhu drew his sword loudly.
"The head is here, just take it."
Ma Mingluan lowered his head slightly and stretched his neck.
Hu Guozhu was furious, but he did not dare to actually kill anyone.
Immediately shouted: "Capture him and hand him over to the Holy One for disposal!"
At that moment, two Yiding men rushed forward and tied up Ma Mingluan.
Ma Mingluan was quickly brought to Chongzhen by two Yiding.
I saw that Chongzhen was taking the crown prince and Prince Ding to have a meal. What surprised Ma Mingluan was that the meals placed on the table were not the fine noodles sent by Qingyu Hall before, but just three bowls of simple plain noodles, and
A head of garlic.
The father and son dipped the garlic into the black bean sauce and ate it deliciously.
As for the two famous prostitutes who came in just now, they are nowhere to be seen. What is going on?
The scene in front of him was completely different from what Ma Mingluan had imagined in his mind.
Shouldn't Chongzhen be drinking wine, eating noodles, and doing shameless things with Li Shiniang and Zheng Tuoniang at this time? How could he be surrounded here with the prince and Ding Wang, eating plain noodles without any oil star?
This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "Ma Mingluan, I heard that you insulted me in public outside the camp. Is this true?"
As Chongzhen spoke, he raised the ocean bowl in front of him, and the bowl of noodle soup quickly bottomed out.
Putting down the big bowl, Chongzhen's gaze pierced Ma Mingluan's eyes like a sharp sword, and he said solemnly: "You dare to insult your father in public, do you know what the crime should be?"
"Death penalty." Ma Mingluan prostrated himself on the ground.
"Death penalty?" Chongzhen snorted coldly, "If I really kill you, but I will fulfill your reputation as a loyal minister, I will really become a coward, and I can't cleanse myself by jumping into the Yangtze River."
"The guilty minister is stupid." Ma Mingluan grabbed the ground with his head.
"Come with me and you will get all the answers you want."
After Chongzhen finished speaking, he stood up and left. Zhu Cixiang came forward to help Ma Mingluo up: "Prefect Ma, please get up quickly."
"The guilty minister thanked His Highness the Crown Prince." Ma Mingluan got up and followed Chongzhen without any pretense.
The group of people walked around the guard station and arrived at the backyard. They heard the sound of silk and bamboo coming from across the courtyard wall.
After passing through the hanging flower gate, and then following the winding corridor to a waterside pavilion, Ma Mingluan finally saw the extravagant scene he had expected.
I saw that the entire water pavilion was made into a ring, surrounding a stage in the middle.
The stage was fully open, and Li Shiniang and Zheng Tuoniang were seen sitting on it, one holding a pipa in his arms, and the other sitting in front of a guzheng, playing and singing. Both groups were accompanied by musicians, which was extremely extravagant.
However, those sitting in the surrounding waterside pavilions were businessmen from all walks of life in Yangzhou.
This is still a little different from what Ma Mingluan thought. The Holy Spirit came from Qingyu Hall to wait for dozens of tables, and also invited Li Shiniang and Zheng Tuoniang. It turned out that it was to entertain Yangzhou merchants? Not for his own sexual pleasure?
Seeing Chongzhen bringing people over, the Yangzhou merchants who were sitting upright quickly knelt down.
Li Shiniang, Zheng Tooniang and the musicians on the middle stage also knelt down on the ground.
"Pingshen." Chongzhen walked to the main seat and sat down, and then said, "Everyone, please sit down."
The Yangzhou merchants present sat down cautiously, and the sound of silk and bamboo on the stage sounded again.
"Prefect Ma, please sit down too." Chongzhen said to Ma Mingluan again, "The answer to the mystery will be revealed soon."
Ma Mingluan had no choice but to endure a lot of questions and sat down on Chongzhen's lower body with half his butt hanging.
"Don't just sit, drink and eat." Chongzhen raised his hands and said with a smile, "This is Qing Yu Tang's top-grade banquet. A table costs five taels of silver, which is expensive."
A group of Yangzhou merchants began to eat and drink cautiously.
But to be honest, no one can taste the food, and the wine tastes like water in the mouth. I really don’t want to drink in front of the emperor. I wonder what will happen later. It’s so worrying.
After staying up like this for more than half an hour, four men in yellow shirts walked in excitedly.
"Your Majesty, the accounts have been sorted out." Fu Shan bowed his head to Chongzhen and said.
"Oh, really?" Chongzhen said happily, "Then let's talk about it in front of everyone."
"Yes." Fu Shan immediately opened the account and read in front of everyone, "The Yangzhou garrison eunuch office was reestablished in the 10th year of Chongzhen and ended in July of the 17th year of Chongzhen. The mine supervisors and tax envoys assigned total taxes of one thousand fourteen thousand.
More than a million taels."
"Ah?" Ma Mingluan and a group of Yangzhou merchants were immediately stunned in their seats.
Qu Shangzhong immediately collapsed to the ground in fear, and Han Zanzhou quickly had people drag him away.
Chongzhen's face turned into a black man, and he exploited more than 14 million taels in seven years?
In other words, the average tax collected is more than 2 million taels a year, and this is just one city in Yangzhou!
Although Yangzhou Prefecture is a gathering place for salt merchants and is the richest, it is too cruel to levy more than 2 million taels a year. This is really killing the chicken to obtain the egg.
However, what is even more surprising is yet to come.
Fu Shan continued to read: "About nine million taels of it were corrupted by the minions and minions of the garrison, and more than five million taels were entered into the account books of the garrison. Only about one million taels of them were sent to the key treasury of the secretariat of the inner court."
"This?" Ma Mingluan and a group of Yangzhou merchants were completely dumbfounded.
In the past seven years, only 5 million taels of the more than 14 million taels of commercial taxes contributed by the Yangzhou local government were entered into the accounts of the Guarding Eunuch Office, and only 1 million taels were sent to the inner court key treasury?
"Bah!" Zhu Cijiong could no longer restrain his anger and slapped the case hard.
All the merchants were silent. The thirteen-year-old prince was also a prince.